Matawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1884. MR MONTGOMERY'S ADDRESS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 119, 15 April 1884, Page 2

Matawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1884. MR MONTGOMERY'S ADDRESS.

Mr Montgomery addressed his con* stituonts at Akaroa la.«t Thursday night. Brieflj- reviewing tlie last session he said Ministers had everything their own way," and were entirely responsible for all done m Gtago and Canterbury. There was degression now everywhere, not- one trade m ten doing more than pay its way;; while all were discontented with the present, and hopeless as to the future. This he i»ttrihuted,first, to the immense annuaj drain for interest on loans ; second, to the. excessive^ Government departmental expenditure ;" tnird, to the large area of good land which owners would neither cultivate nor._sell ;. and fourth, to the rents draiwh by absentee -proprietors. At all hazaivls'tHe' colony's engagements must be kept, but he most strongly protested ''against any* further borrowing. The number of the civil servants must be largely reduced,' anil the large ,lanc]l\oiderß must be, made subject to a tax which' would "compel them to cultivate or sell. A heavy tax should be. imposed. on all absentee propriefors. He insisted on the necessity for decentralisation, and, as a step towards -it, that m each island the railways should be placed under the administration of non-political boards. The Middle Island would nnt submit to their railway rates being raised to make up deficiencies on the North Island lives. : Pacific annexation he declared to be a dream and a delusion, which, if attempted to be carried out, would prove 'a sriaie 1 . Tt would bn derogatory to ou rscl ven, and treasonable to our descendants, to enter into a compact which would interfere with our future liberty «s a nation. He criticised Major Atkinson's speech at great length, a« a dreary waste of words, and condemned tho Premier's utterances regarding, the Civil Service, education, land tenure, native affairs, and the state of the

colony. Major Atkinson's motto should be, "1. borrow and buy." Those four words embodied Major Atkinson's whjle policy. He was a hollow financial failure, and people were beginning to recognise the f.icfc. Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Canterbury, and Ota^o, would no longer .submit to be deprived of their resources for the benefit of Taranaki, where last year the railway'did nob even pay working expenses. The Treasurer's own figures showed a deficiency on the estimates of £220,000 ; but instead of at once calling Parliament together to consider so serious a state of aftuirs, Minister put it off "to June, so as to secure another couple of months' tenure of office. They must go. They had got the country into a me^s ; they would never retrench ; and, whoever succeeded them, the days of the Ministry were numbered, and they knew it. The sooner they were turned out, the better for the country.